No. 13 Oklahoma State’s Big 12 championship hopes were already put on life support Saturday, thanks to No. 12 TCU’s 27-3 win at Texas Tech, coupled with the knowledge the Frogs close the regular season at home against Baylor on Friday, and No. 4 Oklahoma’s oncoming win at Kansas. But the Cowboys went ahead and eliminated themselves by falling in a 42-13 hole for which they could not climb out, dropping a 45-40 game to Kansas State in Stillwater.

Kansas State opened the game by moving 71 yards in 10 plays — every one of them runs, most of them by second-time starting quarterback Skylar Thompson, who traversed the final 40 yards himself, including a 5-yard score.

After a pair of punts, Oklahoma State tied the game on a 2-play, 70-yard drive: a 32-yard run by Justice Hilland a 38-yard strike from Mason Rudolph to James Washington(eight catches for 159 yards).

Matt Ammendola gave Oklahoma State the lead with a 32-yard field goal, but Thompson shoved Kansas State right back in front with a 47-yard play-action bomb to Byron Pringle, putting Kansas State up 14-10 with 13:32 left in the first half. Oklahoma State threatened to re-claim the lead, but the Cowboys could not convert a 1st-and-goal at the K-State 7-yard line, forcing a 27-yard Ammendola field goal.

Kansas State immediately capitalized on the opportunity to seize control of the game when Pringle struck again, this time taking the ensuing kickoff 89 yards back for a touchdown.

A bad sequence for Oklahoma State became even worse when Rudolph’s deep pass to Washington was overthrown and intercepted by Duke Shelley at the K-State 18. The Cowboys defense forced a three-and-out, but the next Oklahoma State drive ended in another Rudolph overthrow and another interception, which Kendall Adams grabbed at the K-State 19 and returned 19 yards to the 38.

Kansas State capitalized on the mistake, moving 62 yards in five plays, the last 39 on an Alex Barnes run down the right sideline to put the Wildcats up 28-13 with 1:30 left in the first half.

The downpour continued to open the second half. Thompson hit Pringle on another bomb, this time 46 yards, on the Wildcats’ first touch of the second half, and that connection hooked up again to push the lead to 42-13 midway through the third quarter — this time from 60 yards out. Pringle finished the day with four catches for a career-best 166 yards and three touchdowns.

Pringle’s third touchdown marked the third straight game and the fourth overall Oklahoma State has allowed 42 points or more.

Oklahoma State forced its way back into the game through a 21-3 run, scoring on a 2-yard run by Hill, an 8-yard pass from Rudolph (32-of-53 for 425 yards with four total touchdowns and two interceptions) to Washington and a 2-yard Rudolph keeper with 4:55 to play.

Oklahoma State attempted an onside kick after the final touchdown, but it was recovered by — who else? — Pringle.

After using its second timeout, Oklahoma State’s defense hit a trifecta: it managed to sack Thompson, force a fumble in which it recovered, and knock Thompson out of the game with what appeared to be a right leg injury. He finished the game hitting 10-of-13 passes for 204 yards with three touchdowns while rushing 17 times for a game-high 93 yards and a touchdown. Barnes added 85 yards on 21 carries, and as a team Kansa State out-rushed Oklahoma State 219-85.

The Cowboys zipped down the field to register Rudolph’s fourth touchdown of the game, a 14-yard bullet to Dillon Stoner to pull the Pokes within 45-40 with 4:02 remaining. Rudolph’s 2-point pass was intercepted.

Needing a first down to win the game, Kansas State ran three straight direct snaps to Barnes, who managed only two yards. Oklahoma State got the ball back at its own 46 with 2:12 remaining, knowing a touchdown would win the game. Instead, they could not gain a yard. Rudolph fired incomplete on four consecutive passes, thereby dooming the Cowboys’ comeback efforts and sending Kansas State (6-5, 4-4 Big 12) into their eighth straight bowl trip.

Oklahoma State (8-3, 5-3 Big 12) will finish its season and Rudolph’s record-breaking career against Kansas next Saturday in Stillwater, knowing the Pokes are playing solely to hold on to their top-25 ranking and bowl positioning, but not much more.

Oklahoma State’s Big 12 championship hopes were put on life support with No. 12 TCU’s 27-3 win at Texas Tech earlier today. But the No. 13 Cowboys are on the verge of eliminating themselves, trailing Kansas State 28-13 at the half in Stillwater.

Kansas State opened the game by moving 71 yards in 10 plays — every one of them runs, most of them by second-time starting quarterback Skylar Thompson, who traversed the final 40 yards himself, including a 5-yard score.

After a pair of punts, Oklahoma State tied the game on a 2-play, 70-yard drive: a 32-yard run by Justice Hilland a 38-yard strike from Mason Rudolph to James Washington.

Matt Ammendola gave Oklahoma State the lead with a 32-yard field goal, but Thompson shoved Kansas State right back in front with a 47-yard play-action bomb to Byron Pringle, putting Kansas State up 14-10 with 13:32 left in the first half. Oklahoma State threatened to re-claim the lead, but the Cowboys could not convert a 1st-and-goal at the K-State 7-yard line, forcing a 27-yard Ammendola field goal.

Kansas State immediately capitalized on the opportunity to seize control of the game when Pringle struck again, this time taking the ensuing kickoff 89 yards back for a touchdown.

A bad sequence for Oklahoma State became even worse when Rudolph’s deep pass to Washington was overthrown and intercepted by Duke Shelley at the K-State 18. The Cowboys defense forced a three-and-out, but the next Oklahoma State drive ended in another Rudolph overthrow and another interception, which Kendall Adams grabbed at the K-State 19 and returned 19 yards to the 38.

Kansas State capitalized on the mistake, moving 62 yards in five plays, the last 39 on an Alex Barnes run down the right sideline to put the Wildcats up 15 with 1:30 left in the first half.

Thompson finished the half hitting 5-of-7 passes for 75 yards and a touchdown while also leading all runners with 12 carries for 88 yards and a touchdown. Barnes added 42 yards on eight carries, and as a team the Wildcats rushed for 127 yards on 22 carries.

Rudolph hit 10-of-19 passes for 138 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, and was sacked three times. Hill rushed 15 times for 76 yards.

It was another week with a bit of an offensive back-and-forth for No. 15 Oklahoma State (8-2, 5-2 Big 12), and this time they came out on top of a wild one. The Cowboys managed to pull through in the fourth quarter to secure a 49-42 win at No. 21 Iowa State (6-4, 4-3 Big 12) to keep their Big 12 championship hopes alive.

The wild fourth quarter began with none other than Allen Lazard coming up with an incredible touchdown catch. As the ball soared to the endzone, Lazard tipped the ball with his left hand with a defender on him, and he caught the ball with his right hand as he fell to the ground for the go-ahead score.

The Lazard touchdown gave Iowa State a 35-31 lead, and Oklahoma State had to settle for a field goal on the ensuing possession to create a one-point game. A little more than a minute later, Iowa State expanded their lead to eight points on a 14-yard run by David Montgomery after a couple of big passes by Zeb Noland to Trever Ryen and an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Cowboys moved the ball quickly down the field. Oklahoma State responded once more by orchestrating a 75-yard drive for a touchdown. Mason Rudolph connected in the endzone with Marcell Ateman form 30 yards out on a 3rd and 22. After a couple of holding penalties in the endzone on two-point conversion attempts by the Pokes, Justice Hill powered his way in for a short pick-up to tie the game at 42-42 with just under six minutes to play.

Oklahoma State took the lead on a 19-yard pass from Rudolph to Dillon Stoner with 3:47 to play. Iowa State moved the ball into the red zone in the final minutes, but Oklahoma State picked off a pass in the endzone and had the instant replay booth uphold the call when it appeared there might have been simultaneous possession between Oklahoma State’s A.J. Green and Iowa State receiver Marchie Murdock.

Oklahoma State has already lost games to both Oklahoma and TCU, the frontrunners in the Big 12 championship game hunt. Even though the Sooners and Horned Frogs play today to guarantee one of them loses, Oklahoma State still must keep the pressure on and hope for some help around the conference these next few weeks.

Iowa State might have seen a chance to play for the Big 12 championship fall through the cracks in their home finale. Iowa State will wrap up the season on the road with back-to-back games at Baylor and Kansas State. One win is needed to clinch Iowa State’s first winning season since 2009.

Iowa State got off to a great start in yet another key Big 12 game, but Justice Hill and the Oklahoma State offense roared back with 21 straight points. But a late touchdown push by Iowa State sends this pivotal Big 12 game to halftime knotted at 21-21.

Allen Lazard did not waste much time having an impact on the game. Five minutes into the game, Lazard got his hands on a 14-yard touchdown pass to put the Cyclones on the board. After Iowa State’s defense forced a three-and-out on Oklahoma State’s first offensive series of the game, the Cyclone offense went back to work with another methodical drive, traveling 64 yards on eight plays for another touchdown to go up 14-0. David Montgomery capped the drive with a 22-yard touchdown run.

Perhaps going down 14-0 was the wakeup call Oklahoma State needed. On the ensuing possession, the Cowboys got on the board with a 21-yard pass from Mason Rudolph to Marcell Ateman. After forcing a three-and-out, and taking over at the Iowa State 32-yard line, Hill scored a 9-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14-14 early in the second quarter. Another three-and-out by the Cyclones led to another touchdown drive by Oklahoma State, with Hill once again capping the drive with a run to the end zone.

Iowa State tied things up in the final minute of the first half when Joel Lanning, the 6′-2″ 230 lb. quarterback, stepped in at quarterback for q short-yardage push at the goal line. It worked as Lanning and the Cyclones muscled forward for the touchdown on the ground.

A win by Iowa State will keep the Cyclones in the running to make the Big 12 championship game, thank in large part to head-to-head tiebreaker with both Oklahoma and TCU. If they can get one more this afternoon against Oklahoma State, that would be huge. Oklahoma State also needs this win to stay in the Big 12 title hunt as well. Stay tuned for a wild second half.

In games where seemingly every other play ends in a touchdown, it’s the plays that take points off the board that matter most. Oklahoma benefitted from of those than Oklahoma State, and the fifth-ranked Sooners outlasted the 11th-ranked Cowboys for a 62-52 win in the highest-scoring Bedlam game ever.

The first of those plays came on the Pokes’ first snap of the game. After A.J. Greenintercepted Mayfield on the opening drive of the game, Justice Hillmomentarily raced in for a 28-yard touchdown but James Washingtonwas called for holding, and the Oklahoma State drive ended in three points instead of seven.

The sides traded punts on their next possession, and then the track meet began. Oklahoma scored touchdowns on five straight possessions — covering 389 yards over 27 plays — to control most of the first half, but Oklahoma State went on a 4-touchdown streak of its own — moving 300 yards on the nose in 24 plays — to pull within 38-38 at halftime. Oklahoma could have had six straight touchdown drives, but its final possession of the half ended in a field goal after Mayfield was stuffed on a third-and-goal rush from the 1-yard line.

Austin Seibert‘s second field goal put Oklahoma up 41-38 with 4:47 to play in the third quarter, but the Cowboys moved in position to take their first lead since 10-7 in the first quarter when the second of those plays occurred. This time Mason Rudolph was intercepted by Will Johnson on a back-of-his-foot heave into double coverage on 1st-and-goal from the three — all things considered, it will go down as by far the worst pass Rudolph will ever throw in an Oklahoma State uniform — to give OU a third quarter shutout.

Oklahoma took advantage of the opportunity and took advantage quickly, moving 80 yards in just three plays as Rodney Anderson‘s second rushing touchdown gave the Sooners a 48-38 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The Cowboys’ offense got back on track in the third quarter, putting together 150 yards’ worth of touchdown drives in 16 plays, and its defense made another play on Mayfield on the same goal line as Chad Whitener hauled in an interception and returned it to the 35-yard line, giving Oklahoma State the ball back with a 55-52 deficit with 2:59 to play. The Cowboys moved into Oklahoma territory, but Ogbonnia Okoronkwo sacked Rudolph for a loss of 10 yards, and a pass from Rudolph to Hill bounced off Hill’s face mask and into the arms of Oklahoma’s Tre Brown. However, a targeting foul on Johnson overturned the interception and gave OSU the ball back with a 1st-and-10 at the Sooners’ 40. However, Oklahoma State gained only two yards on its first three plays and Rudolph’s fourth-and-8 deep ball with a minute to play was overthrown.

Trey Sermon added the capper with a 53-yard burst with 42 seconds to play.

Mayfield finished the day hitting 24-of-36 passes for a school-record 598 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions (plus a 7-yard rushing touchdown). Marquise Brownwas his favorite target, hauling in nine grabs for 265 yards and two touchdowns. Sermon and Anderson combined to rush 31 times for 192 yards and two scores, giving the Sooners 785 yards of total offense and 30 first downs on 76 plays (10.32 per play).

Hill led all rushers with 220 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries, while Rudolph hit 28-of-54 throws for 448 yards with five scores against two picks. Washington left the game early due to injury but still hauled in seven grabs for 128 yards and a score.

The win gave Oklahoma (8-1, 5-1 Big 12) three straight victories over its in-state rival, five out of six, 13 out of 15 and 87 wins in 112 all-time meetings. Thanks to Iowa State’s loss to West Virginia earlier of the day, the Sooners regained control of their Big 12 and College Football Playoff destiny ahead of next Saturday’s visit from No. 8 TCU. Oklahoma State (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) would need to benefit from the combination of chaos and tiebreakers to force a rematch at AT&T Stadium in December.